Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, paramount chief of Akwamu welcoming President Mahama to the durbar in his honour

PRESIDENT John Dramani Mahama has attributed the resilience of the economy in the face of global economic challenges that have caused some other economies to slump, to prudent economic management being practised by the government.

“Because of prudent economic management, even though Ghana is experiencing a drop in the price of the oil that we export, and sustained drop in gold prices, our economy remains resilient,” he stated.

President Mahama said this while addressing a joint durbar of the chiefs of Akwamu, Anum and Boso, at Akwamufie in the Eastern Region as part of his Accounting to the People Tour.

He said the various measures adopted to grow and sustain the economy were producing good dividends.

“Our deficit continues to come down, declining from 12 to seven per cent, while the economy is projected to grow above four per cent this year, compared to other countries whose economies are contracting due to the global economic challenges.

“Today, the world economy is in crisis. Almost every country is facing financial challenges,” he said, linking the crisis to the fall in world market prices of crude oil and other export commodities.

He cited major oil producing countries, including Saudi Arabia which are being badly affected by the low oil prices, adding that other economies which did not have oil and were relying on the export of other commodities such as gold, were also suffering because of the fall in all the prices of those commodities and the slowdown of China’s economy.

“The price of many commodities which are the principal exports of countries have collapsed and so their economies are going through crisis.

“Because of prudent economic management, even though Ghana is experiencing a drop in the price of the oil that we export, and sustained drop in gold prices for the past four to five years, our economy remains resilient, and is not facing the kind of crisis we are seeing around the world, and that means that our economic management has been good,” he declared.

The President gave the assurance that the government would continue to complement the growth of the economy with social investments and infrastructure, to ensure sustainable development.

Touching on the development of the Eastern Region, he urged the chiefs to work together in making farm lands more accessible to attract investments into agriculture production in the area.

That, he explained, was the only way to promote the huge investment potentials in the agriculture sector in the region which had vast unused arable land.

The President added that it would help to solve the problem of poor access to farmland by investors, especially Ghanaians whose agriculture production ambitions were hindered due to land acquisition problems.

He lauded chiefs for the peace in the area, and assured them of more projects and resources to open up the area for economic growth, citing the rehabilitation of the Adomi Bridge and the construction of roads as a testimony of government’s commitment to the development promise he made during the 2012 election campaign.

Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, paramount chief of Akwamu, welcoming the President, commended the government for the various infrastructure projects, and called for more.